Indo-Japan Chamber of Commerce and Industry organised an international conference on opportunities in India particularly in Tamil Nadu, in the MSME category. Japan is an economic colossus while India is an emerging giant. Both the economies revolve around millions of micro, small and medium enterprises.

Industry Minister P Thangamani said that the Government of Tamil Nadu in the last 18 months has attracted 17 major projects with an investment commitment of over Rs.26,625 crore, offering direct and indirect employment potential to over 1.46 lakh persons. Tamil Nadu has over 8.26 lakh MSME registered industrial units providing employment to about 5.3 million persons. Tamil Nadu houses 344 Japanese companies doing business here accounting for 37 per cent of total Japanese companies operating in India.

Rural Industry Minister P Mohan said the interaction of MSMEs to establish personal contacts and explore opportunities between Tamil Nadu and Japan in all the 32 districts of Tamil Nadu is a welcome move and the government has launched a new scheme called NEEDS 2012-13 to encourage educated youth for entrepreneur training, assistance to prepare their business plans and helping to tie up with financial institutions to set up new business ventures, besides linking them with major industrial clients.

Prof. N Krishnaswami, President, Indo Japan Chamber of Commerce, and Masanori Nakano, Consul General of Japan said India is the most promising country for long term investments. India will capitalise on the opportunity by improving power situation and putting in place faster and transparent compliance environment. Japan is the fourth largest investor in India with over $13.8 billion invested between April 2000 and November 2012.

Skill council for leather sector

The 28th Edition of the popular India International Leather Fair was organised in Chennai by India Trade Promote Organisation (ITPO) and the Council for Leather Exports (CLE). Around 425 exhibitors from India and 22 other countries were part of the event.

Rita Menon,Chairperson and MD of ITPO and Rajendra K Jalan , Chairman, CLE, said the leather industry has aggressively been expanding to newer markets as part of the de-risking strategy. However, conventional export destinations like Europe and US will remain major markets due to their high consumption levels.

The Leather Council would be taking up a major skill development programme. An entity called Leather Sector Skill Council has been formed under the aegis of National Skill Development Corporation to address the problem of shortage of trained manpower.

The Central government is expected to provide a grant of Rs 6 crore and a soft loan about Rs 5 crore. Besides, Council for Leather Exports will contribute about Rs 1 crore for this initiative. The leather sector is one of the focus sectors of the foreign trade policy and has an annual turnover of $7.5 billion.

INDO US trade crosses $100 billion

Generating an additional billion dollar two-way trade with Indian companies seeking US entry was the theme of the workshop conducted by MCCI.

The workshop featuring US business experts and attorneys was aimed at providing information and personal coaching to Indian companies and entrepreneurs about how to succeed at doing business in the United States.

Expert advisors and attorneys helped the Indian companies, entrepreneurs and investors develop customised strategy for their company and for their specific needs. Trade between the two nations is expected to cross the $100 billion mark this year.

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